He was an automatic rifleman with the 3d Platoon defending a strong point near
Malmedy(THIRIMONT) , Belgium, on 21 December 1944, when the enemy launched a
powerful attack. Overrunning tank destroyers and antitank guns located near the
strong point, German tanks advanced to the 3d Platoon's position, and, after
prolonged fighting, forced the withdrawal of this group to a nearby factory.
Sgt. Currey found a bazooka in the building and crossed the street to secure
rockets meanwhile enduring intense fire from enemy tanks and hostile
infantrymen who had taken up a position at a house a short distance away. In
the face of small-arms, machinegun, and artillery fire, he, with a companion,
knocked out a tank with 1 shot. Moving to another position, he observed 3
Germans in the doorway of an enemy-held house. He killed or wounded all 3 with
his automatic rifle. He emerged from cover and advanced alone to within 50
yards of the house, intent on wrecking it with rockets. Covered by friendly
fire, he stood erect, and fired a shot which knocked down half of 1 wall.

While
in this forward position, he observed 5 Americans who had been pinned down for
hours by fire from the house and 3 tanks. Realizing that they could not escape
until the enemy tank and infantry guns had been silenced, Sgt. Currey crossed
the street to a vehicle, where he procured an armful of antitank grenades. These
he launched while under heavy enemy fire, driving the tankmen from the vehicles
into the house. He then climbed onto a half-track in full view of the Germans
and fired a machinegun at the house. Once again changing his position, he
manned another machinegun whose crew had been killed; under his covering fire
the 5 soldiers were able to retire to safety. Deprived of tanks and with heavy
infantry casualties, the enemy was forced to withdraw. Through his extensive
knowledge of weapons and by his heroic and repeated braving of murderous enemy
fire, Sgt. Currey was greatly responsible for inflicting heavy losses in men
and material on the enemy, for rescuing 5 comrades, 2 of whom were wounded, and
for stemming an attack which threatened to flank his battalion's position.

The Medal of Honor is the United States of America's highest military honor, awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. The medal is awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U.S. Congress to U.S. military personnel only. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, and one for the Air Force Personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version. It is sometimes known by its initials "MH", but the initials are not used by recipients as a post-nominal title.The Medal of Honor was created as a Navy version in 1861 named the "Medal of Valor",and an Army version of the medal named the "Medal of Honor" was established in 1862 to give recognition to men who distinguished themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity" in combat with an enemy of the United States. Because the medal is presented "in the name of Congress", it is incorrectly referred to as the "Congressional Medal of Honor". The official name is "Medal of Honor", which began with the U.S. Army's version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the "Medal of Honor", and less frequently as "Congressional Medal of Honor".The Medal of Honor is usually presented by the President in a formal ceremony at the White House, intended to represent the gratitude of the American people, with posthumous presentations made to the primary next of kin. According to the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States, there have been 3,515 Medals of Honor awarded to the nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen since the decoration's creation, with just less than half of them awarded for actions during the four years of the American Civil War.In 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as "National Medal of Honor Day". Due to its prestige and status, the Medal of Honor is afforded special protection under U.S. law against any unauthorized adornment, sale, or manufacture, which includes any associated ribbon or badge.

In early
December, 1944, the 30th Infantry Division was in a more-or-less
static combat situation, with much aggressive patrolling going on, probing into
the German defenses in the vicinity of Langweiler, Germany, just a little bit
north of Aachen.

It was bitter
cold, rainy and muddy, and the forward progress was very slow. We were still
waiting for the build-up of supplies, to enable us to make the crossing of the
Roer River as soon as possible, and to then be able to continue on.

All supplies up
to this point were being brought to us from Omaha Beach – 450 miles to the
west, so it was a slow process of bringing up adequate supplies, and
replacements, to keep a Division in a static position, and yet build up a
reserve for future action.

In the
meanwhile, all of our Battalions not on line, were being sent back to Kerkrade,
Holland, to our Rest Center, an ancient monastery by the name of Rolduc.Each battalion rotated at this time,
each one for 5-6 days, so everyone had an opportunity to get some badly needed
rest, showers, clean clothes and limited entertainment, as well as good hot
meals, and to enjoy hot coffee and donuts supplied by the American Red Cross
girls.

Upon returning
to the front lines again, each Company received intensive training in tank /
infantry tactics, learning how best to coordinate and communicate with each
other, in preparation for the big assault that was to come “momentarily”.

This continued
on a daily basis, until Sunday, 17 December 1944.About noon, the entire Division was placed on ‘alert’, and
was to be ready to move out on a moment’s notice.An unusual way to announce the beginning of a proposed
assault across the Roer River, we thought, but we soon found out that the
assault by our Division had been called off.

All weapons,
other equipment and ammunition were loaded on to our organic vehicles, and
other attached transportation that had been provided, to enable us to move
additional supplies, as well as the entire Division’s manpower.We then stood by for further orders, to
direct the movement at a moment’s notice,

Unknown to us at
this time, 1800 hours, the German Army had struck the day before, (16th),
in a least likely area in the mountains of the Ardennes in Belgium.This particular defensive line, from
Bastogne northward to Malmedy, was held by the newly arrived, and “green” 106th
Infantry Division, and the 99th Infantry Division.The rationale being, that this would be
a god place for them to get their initial exposure to combat experience,
through patrolling and coming in very limited contact with enemy patrols, and
further, no one in their right mind, would mount an attack of any consequence,
in a mountainous area in the middle of the winter.It would be too confining to the narrow and winding roads,
which would be a prime necessity for attacking troops, and to maintain their
supply lines and any traffic across the mountains and through heavy woods,
which would impede vehicles and troops.

Guess What??That is
right where they mounted their attack!!

It must be
mentioned here, that the 106th and 99th Infantry
Divisions were stretched out over 85 miles of a defensive position, with little
or nothing to their rear as reserve troops.They were stretched out there all by themselves!!

A big
mis-calculation by SHAEF Headquarters, and Damned poor U.S. Intelligence!They had been adequately advised of
unusual activity to the front, but it was dismissed as “rumor”, “hallucination”
and a few other reasons to downplay any reports of activity to the front.

How wrong they were at SHAEF, in their evaluation of these reports!

Their plan was
to break through, capture some supply and fuel dumps of the 1st
Army, then race on to Liege, thence to Antwerp, which had recently been cleared
and made operational, thereby shortening our supply line from Omaha Beach.This would ha e effectively cut off the
entire Canadian Army, the entire British Army and the U.S. 9th
Army.Hopefully, this would allow
the Germans to sue for separate peace treaties with each of these Armies,
enabling them to end the war in the West, and allow them to devote their full
attention to the war in the East against the Russians.

That was the Plan.

At about 1000
hours the night of December 17th, our 30th Infantry
Division was ordered to move out – to where, no one seemed to know.Just follow the vehicle ahead of
you!Soon, we were able to
realize, by orienting on the stars above, that we were moving South, but to
where or why, was still a big question.

Finally, in the
early hours of the morning, with some of the men still being awake and
partially conscious and listening to the American Forces Network on their
radios, there was a break-in on that frequency by our nemesis and rumor monger,
‘Axis Sally’, the major German propagandist, who informed us:

“The 30thInfantry
Division, the elite Roosevelt’s S/S Troops and Butchers, are enroute from
Aachen to Spa and Malmedy, Belgium, to try to save the 1st Army
Headquarters, which is trying to retreat from the area, before they are
captured by our nice young German boys.You guys of the 30th Division might as well give up now,
unless you want to join your comrades of the 1st Army Hq. in a
P.O.W. Camp.We have already
captured most of the 106th Division, and have already taken St. Vith
and Malmedy, and the next will be Liege”.

We were stunned,
as only then did we have any clue as to where we were going, or the reason for
this sudden movement.

We arrived at
the prescribed destination on the afternoon of the 18th of December,
and light defensive positions had already been established all around.

Malmedy had Not
been taken, as Axis Sally had said, and we found that Malmedy had been our
objective destination. Malmedy was in our defensive sector, but St. Vith was
not, being just south of our sector. However, St. Vith had been captured by the
Germans.

Prior to our
arrival in Malmedy, it had been hurriedly occupied by the 291st
Engineer Combat Battalion, which had hastily erected road blocks on the most
strategic roads and approaches to the town.

Col. Joachim
Peiper was the commander of the 1st S/S Regiment, of the 1st
S/S Panzer Division, the spearhead which was to attack Malmedy. Due to the many
defensive road blocks established by the 291st Engr. Bn.,, and the
120th Regiment, Peiper was unable to get into Malmedy, and then he
opted to skirt the area to the south, and make a dash for Stavelot &
Stoumont by “back-roads”.The main
incentive for this routing, was to reach our 1st Army fuel depot at
Stavelot, where there was over 1 million gallons of gasoline.Had they attained their goal, we could
not have stopped them, and they would have been on their merry way to Liege and
Antwerp.There were no reserve
troops in this area to block his advance.

Enroute through
this area, Peiper met up with Company “A” of the 285th Field
Artillery Observation Battalion, composed of about 140 men in over 30 vehicles,
that were passing across the front of Peiper’s advance at Baugnez, commonly
known as Five Points, as they were enroute to St. Vith.

Needless to say,
they were all captured and herded into an adjacent field, lined up, and
methodically machine gunned down.Following this, some of the German soldiers walked through the mass of
bodies, and any that were moving or groaning, were shot in the head.Thus, this became the noted “Malmedy
Massacre”.This was not the only
isolated incident of this nature, in which this type of atrocity was committed.

Their reasoning
for committing this act of atrocity, was the fact that they did not have the
men or vehicles to keep them as P.O.W.’s nor the food to feed them, and
further, they would impede their rapid advance so that they could not maintain
their schedule.

This massacre
occurred on 17 December 1944, in a field behind a prominent café, at Baugnez,
‘The Bodware Café’, and it was not until 1 January 1945, that the uneven humps
in the ground – the bodies had frozen in grotesque forms, and were covered with
4-6 inches of snow – were discovered to be U.S. soldiers and were found by men
of the 120th Infantry of the 30th Division.

A few of these
men did manage to survive, one of whom was Bill Merriam, and his story, and the
story of others, led to several of the Germans being captured later on, having
to stand trial at the Nurnburg War Crimes Trial, after the end of the war.

A monument has
been erected near the site of the massacre, and the name of each soldier that
was killed, is inscribed on a plaque along the wall, about 100 feet in length,
and the U.S. Flag flies there, day and night.It is well attended by the local citizens, and fresh flowers
are laced at the monument by someone, nearly every day, and is one of the most
highly visited sites in the area.Memorial services are held here frequently, particularly when veterans’
groups visit the area on Memorial Day and on other special occasions.

Later on that
same day of the massacre, Col. Peiper’s troops were passing through
Ligneuville, they captured 8 more Americans of the 9th Armored
Division, and they were executed by a pistol shot in the mouth of each
man.A monument is also erected
here in their honor and memory.

Some of the most
intense and viscous fighting of the entire war took place in this area due to
the cold weather, lack of warm clothing, food, supplies and ammunition.Temperatures hovered below freezing
during the day, windy and with snow falling on many days, and temperatures
running as low as –20 degrees at night.

During this
December – January period, we endured the coldest winter on record up to that
time, according to local authorities, and although fighting was severe and
continuous, we actually had more casualties from frost bite of the feet and
hands, than actual wounds from enemy action.This required an enormous number of replacements continually
throughout these two months.The
logistics of keeping us supplied with ammunition, food and replacements, was an
on-going nightmare for our Service units.

In order to
assist Col. Peiper in the execution of the Plan, the 3rd Parachute
Division was dropped well behind our lines, and they created havoc by cutting
phone lines, turning road signs in the wrong directions, and even acting as
M.P.’s, and directing traffic in the wrong direction!All of the men in this unit were dressed in U.S. uniforms,
and by devious means, confiscated many U.S. vehicles, and thereby gave the
impression and credence to their being genuine U.S. soldiers, and authorized to
be there.Little thought was given
to challenging them, “so far behind the front lines”!! Most spoke excellent English, which many
of them had learned while living in the United States prior to the war, and
they even knew our pass-words of the day, which had been captured during the
break-through from the 106th Division.

In this area, on
the Western outskirts of Malmedy, one of our men, Pfc. Francis S. Currey,
engaged a group of German tanks, a half-track and two anti-tank guns, and he
single-handedly, with a B.A.R., a bazooka, anti-tank grenades, a .50 caliber
machine gun, mounted in a U.S. half-track that had been knocked out and
abandoned earlier, and a .30 caliber heavy machine gun. He knocked out 3 German tanks, one of
which had the markings, fake of course, of the U.S. Star on the turret and on
the sides of the tank, two half-tracks, killed several German soldiers, and in
the midst of all of this, saved the lives of 5 of his comrades from certain
death, or of being taken prisoner.
For this Francis S. Currey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor,
and the Belgian equivalent, the Belgian Military Order of Leopold II with Palm.

In the
meanwhile, the Germans had claimed the capture of Malmedy, and the headlines of
the Stars & Stripes proclaimed this!Thus our Air Corps partners, the “9th U.S. Luftwaffe” as we
called them, came over with their heavy B-24 bombers on 24 December, and opened
their bomb-bay doors directly over Malmedy.

Malmedy had been
liberated in October 1944, with little or no fighting, as the Germans were on
the run at that time, heading for their defenses along the nearby border of
Belgium and Germany.So, Malmedy
had been spared of any appreciable damage, and when we moved into the town on
18 December, it was a beautiful and picturesque resort town, where everyone was
merrily going about their business as usual.

This suddenly
changed the whole picture!Malmedy
was a total disaster, with the entire center of the city laid to waste.Many civilians were killed and wounded,
but we were fortunate in losing only a very few men of our own.Our biggest loss was our Christmas
dinner, which was being prepared that day.Spam and bread is what we got!!Three of our Company’s kitchens located within the City of
Malmedy, were totally destroyed.

Of
course our Air Corps ‘friends’ apologized, and they still could not understand
just what went wrong.As they were
apologizing, the 9th Air Corps was on its way, to make sure of the
knock-out, and they bombed Malmedy again on Christmas Day!This in spite of the whole city having
been covered with our normal phosphorescent panels, to indicate that the area
was occupied by our own forces.

As
I mentioned, the entire center of the city of Malmedy was a total wasteland,
and the next day, the Stars & Stripes proudly proclaimed,’ that Malmedy had
been retaken by our troops, due to the strong support of the Air Corps, in
stopping the German advance through Malmedy.’

At this
particular time, I was a Liaison Officer from the Division Hq., which was
located in the Hotel des Bruyeres in Francorchamps, to the 120th
Regimental Hq. which was located in the City Hall in Malmedy.I drove between these two points
frequently, day and night, so it was prudent to find the shortest route between
these two points.This led me to
an unimproved road up over a mountain to the northwest of Malmedy, and through
the settlement of Burnenville, situated on the top of the mountain.This route saved me many miles of
travel and hours of time.

On the fateful
day of 24 December, as I was traversing this route, and was about to descend
the slope of the mountain down into Malmedy, I heard the drone of planes to my
rear.I told my driver to stop
right there.We looked back and
saw this great flight of B-24 bombers.What a wonderful sight to behold!I said to my driver, “The Germans are going to catch Hell somewhere”,
and he agreed.Little did we know
at that moment that their target was Malmedy!!In a few moments, we were appalled when we could see the
bomb-bays of the planes open, and the bombs began to tumble out!!It was total horror as we watched the
bombs drop all the way down to their target, the heart of the City of
Malmedy!!Clouds of smoke erupted
from this point, then flames reaching hundreds of feet into the air over
Malmedy.I had a small camera with
me, and I took a few photos of the planes, dropping their bombs, and then of
the city shrouded in smoke and flames.

It was later
learned that three of our 3rd Battalion kitchens had been totally
destroyed, and about 25 of our men were missing in action, all presumably in
and around the kitchen areas, and no trace of them was ever found.

There is some
question as to just when this action occurred, as everything and every body was
in a state of chaos.Whether this
action took place on 24 December or 25 December is questionable, but the fact
remains that we WERE bombed on both days. All of the Company’s records were
destroyed in these bombings, so all we have is the accounts written in the
history books, and the recollection of others many years after the event.

We cranked up
our Jeep, and raced down the slope of the mountain, and crossed the bridge over
the river on the north side of the city.That was as far as we could go, as there was debris from the bombing all
over the streets, making them impassable.People were running around screaming for help and needing
assistance.Knowing where all of
our medical facilities were located in Malmedy, all that I could do was to
direct them to the nearest medical facility, where they could get help.Upon reaching the Regimental CP located
in the City Hall, I found that all of the phone lines were out, and radio
communication with the Division Hq. was not possible due to the distance and
the interference of the mountain between the two headquarters.

I was delegated
to race back to the Division Hq. and advise them of the disaster that had just
occurred, and to summon assistance at once.Almost immediately, as many of the Medical officers and
staffs were summoned and dispatched to go to Malmedy to render any assistance possible
to our own troops first, then to render assistance to the civilian population
as needed.

Needless to say,
the 105th Engr. Bn was dispatched also, to render assistance in
clearing the main routes through the city as quickly as possible.

It was
remarkable to note that, although the entire heart of the city was destroyed,
the St. Quirin Cathedral was virtually untouched!Talk about Miracles!!

However, we
recovered from this disaster rather quickly, as most all of the necessary
ground support was almost immediately available, since we were in the midst of
the 1st Army supply depots, which had been abandoned by them on 16,
17 & 18 December 1944.

In another
action, in the small village of Petit-Coo, another of our 30th
Division men, T/Sgt. Paul Bolden, earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. He charged a building housing 35
Germans, under the cover of one of his comrades, who was armed only with a
rifle.The Germans had pinned down
his Company for some time with heavy automatic weapons and small arms
fire.His covering comrade was
killed by this intense fire, but undaunted, he hurled fragmentation and white
phosphorus grenades into the doorway and windows of the house.He received return fire, and was hit by
4 bullets in this action, then, despite his wounds and weakened condition, he
charged the house again and sprayed it with a sub-machine gun. He waited for
the Germans to come out to surrender, but none came out.Thirty five dead Germans were in the
house.None escaped.T/Sgt. Paul Bolden was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor, which was presented to him by President Harry S.
Truman in Washington, DC in September 1945, after returning home with the
Division.

Many more
actions such as these two C.M.H. recipients occurred, but were never adequately
documented, so those involved in these incidents were awarded 65 Distinguished
Service Crosses, and an untold number of Silver Stars.

Finally, by the
end of January, the “Battle of the Ardennes” had ended,(More commonly called the “Battle of
the Bulge), and the front lines were nearly back to where they had been when
the attack was first made on 16 December 1944.

Hitler’s elite 1st
S/S Panzer Division, the Adolph Hitler Leibstandarte, had been totally
destroyed, and was never able to reorganize and come back into battle, as it
had done before.

Around the 1st
of February, 1945, our 30th Division was relieved in this area, and
we returned to Germany, to nearly the same position that we had left in
mid-December, and again prepared to attack over the Roer River.